Tag Archives: Music

New York, the city that never sleeps.

NY Nightlife

Whatever you want to do when ever you want to do it . New York is the city to do it in.

The cliché, ‘the city that never sleeps’, really rings true in New York and especially in Manhattan. This small island buzzes with nocturnal activity, from bustling neighbourhood bars, swank cocktail lounges and ultra hip nightclubs, where some of the world’s best DJs entertain the city’s ‘beautiful people’.

Home to Broadway, the once louche Times Square is enjoying a renaissance, with American theme restaurants, bars and cinemas attracting a huge tourist crowd. The EastVillage, from 14th Street to Houston (pronounced howston), east of Broadway, is famous for its local bars that stay open late and its small live music clubs, such as the renowned CBGB, a live music venue frequented by a young rock-and-roll set. The Lower East Side, an up-and-coming neighbourhood that borders the EastVillage at Houston and stretches south to Chinatown at Canal, offers a similar nightlife scene and vibe.

SoHo is the hip capital, with its chic nightclubs attracting artists, models and media types. The gay scene is centred around the bars of the WestVillage, which also offers a lively mix of jazz clubs. Gramercy, in the 20s on the east side, is the ‘new SoHo’ with velvet-rope cocktail lounges. Upmarket tastes are also catered for in the sophisticated lounges, clubs and cocktail bars in Midtown and the Upper East and Upper West Sides.

Entrance fees to some of the smarter nightclubs can be pricey and is cash only. The hippest clubs employ strict dress codes, only allowing the cool and the beautiful to break through the velvet ropes. The normal club closing time is 0400, although many are open all night. An ever-changing crop of ‘after-hours’ places offer entertainment until sunrise, however, alcohol cannot legally be served between 0400 and 0800 or after 2400 on Sunday. The minimum drinking age is 21 and checking of photo ID is mandatory. The average price of a beer is US$5–7, while the average price of a cocktail is US$10. A tip of US$1–2 is expected per drink.

Time Out New York (website: www.timeoutny.com) is a very good source of nightlife event information, published weekly and sold at newsagents and kiosks for US$2.99.

Bars: New York has a massive range of bars, with everything from neighbourhood dives and lively Irish pubs to slick jet-set haunts with DJs and dimly lit, cocktail lounges. Hip bars include the airline-theme bar Idlewild, 145 East Houston Street, East Village, Max Fish, 178 Ludlow Street, Lower East Side, which fills with a young, T-shirt-and-jeans crowd, Serena, 222 West 23rd Street, Chelsea, a subterranean lounge in the cool and legendary Chelsea Hotel, as well as favourite of the ‘beautiful people’ Lotus, 409 West 14th Street, West Village. Double Happiness, 173 Mott Street, Chinatown, draws a funky 20-something clientele. At Hogs & Heifers, 859 Washington Street, West Village, on which the mediocre film Coyote Ugly (2000) was based, patrons toss their bra on the wall with all the others.

A more sophisticated lounge, the Campbell Apartment, Grand Central Station, Midtown, is hidden away in this busy rail terminal, serving top-class cocktails and first-rate Martinis. The refined, clubby bar in the Algonquin Hotel, 59 West 44th Street, Midtown West, is known for its literary origins. For old-time New York, there is Chumley’s, 86 Bedford Street, West Village, or the White Horse Tavern, 567 Hudson Street, West Village.

Casinos: Gambling is illegal in New YorkState.

Clubs: The New York clubbing scene is notoriously fickle and difficult to pin down, especially after former mayor Giuliani shoved many of the best promoters underground. Away from the cheesy mainstream venues, two consistently good spots are Centro-Fly, 45 West 21st Street, with its big-deal DJs, and Filter 14, 432 West 14th Street, at Washington Street, a newcomer that is successfully competing with the tried-and-true spots. Roxy, 515 West 18th Street, and Spa, 76 East 13th Street, get an appreciative gay and lesbian crowd. Luxx, 256 Grand Street, Williamsburg, Brooklyn, is the centre of the city’s electroclash scene, which looks back to the electric 80s for contemporary inspiration.

Comedy: New York’s leading comedy venues, featuring top-line comedians, include Carolines on Broadway, 1626 Broadway, The Comedy Cellar, 117 McDougal Street, and Gotham Comedy Club, 34 West 22nd Street – dubbed the ‘best comedy club in Manhattan’. More off-kilter comedy is on offer at Surf Reality, 172 Allen Street, while new faces often appear at Stand Up NY, 236 West 78th Street.

Live music: The famous MadisonSquareGarden, Seventh Avenue between 31st Street and 33rd Street, Manhattan (website: www.thegarden.com), plays host to a number of rock and pop heavies, from Britney Spears to U2. CBGBs, 315 Bowery, between First Street and Second Street (website: www.cbgb.com), the king of American underground rock venues, was there to provide the stage for new bands such as the Ramones and Blondie during the 1970s. It does the same for similar acts today. The Bottom Line, 15 West Fourth Street, which showcases softer folk and blues acts, is another long-standing venue that saw the rise to fame of many of its musicians.

New York is also home to numerous jazz clubs, including The Blue Note, 131 West Third Street, and the Iridium, 1650 Broadway, which both reel in the best American and international jazz musicians.

New places open and others close all the time. Something hip today is gone tomorrow.

From the bright lights of Broadway to the revered stages at the Lincoln Center and Carnegie Hall, from the high kicks of the Rockettes at Radio City Music Hall to the cutting-edge works performed at BAM, New York City continues to be one of the most diverse and heavily textured urban cultural centres in the world the BIG apple has it all.

The principal entertainment districts are the Theater District in the Broadway/42nd Street/Times Square area and the LincolnCenter for the Performing Arts on the Upper West Side. Most Broadway theatres are located in the blocks just east or west of Broadway, between 41st Street and 53rd Street. Off- and Off-Off-Broadway theatres are sprinkled throughout Manhattan, with a concentration in the East and West Villages, Chelsea and several in the 40s and 50s west of the Broadway theatre district. The Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, 70 Lincoln Center Plaza, Columbus Avenue at 64th Street (tel: (212) 721 6500; website: www.lincolncenter.org), is America’s first and largest performing arts complex, containing many venues. It is also the home of the Metropolitan Opera (website: www.metopera.org), the New York City Opera (website: www.nycopera.com), the New York City Ballet (website: www.nycballet.com), the New York Philharmonic (website: www.newyorkphilharmonic.org), among others.

New York continues to grow and, as well as these established attractions, offers something new each day. Times Square is one of the prominent areas to receive attention. Madame Tussaud’s wax museum, 234 West 42nd Street (tel: (800) 246 8872; website: www.nycwax.com), which includes a movie complex, the New Amsterdam Theater, 214 West 42nd Street, owned by Disney, as well as a number of similar renovations of historic theatres – such as the New Victory Theatre, 209 West 42nd Street (tel: (646) 223 3020; website: www.newvictory.org) and the Academy/Apollo (see Theatre below) – have ensured that New York remains the cultural capital of the USA.

Tickets are available for purchase through Telecharge (tel: (212) 239 6200; website: www.telecharge.com), which handles, Broadway, Off-Broadway and some concerts. Ticketmaster (tel: (212) 307 7171; website: www.ticketmaster.com), also offers Broadway and Off-Broadway, as well as tickets to MadisonSquareGarden and RadioCity. Reduced-priced tickets of up to half-price for same-day Broadway and Off-Broadway are available for purchase at the TKTS booth, 47th Street and Broadway (website: www.tdf.org/programs/tkts), open daily 1500–2000 for evening performances, 1000–1400 for Wednesday and Saturday matinees and 1200–1830 for all Sunday performances. Credit cards are not accepted.

Information on cultural events in the city is available online (website: www.nycvisit.com and www.whatsonwhen.com). Time Out New York (website: www.timeoutny.com) also is a good source of information published weekly and sold at newsagents and kiosks for US$2.99.

Music: The Avery Fisher Hall, in the LincolnCenter, 70 Lincoln Center Plaza, Columbus Avenue at 64th Street (tel: (212) 875 5030; website: www.lincolncenter.org), is the permanent home of the New York Philharmonic (tel: (212) 875 5709; website: www.newyorkphilharmonic.org) and a temporary one to visiting orchestras and soloists. Tickets for the New York Philharmonic cost approximately US$15–50. Avery Fisher also hosts the very popular annual Mostly Mozart festival (tel: (212) 875 5103) in August. The Alice Tully Hall, also in the LincolnCenter (tel: (212) 875 5050; website: www.lincolncenter.org), is a smaller venue for chamber orchestras, string quartets and instrumentalists. The greatest names from all schools of music – from Tchaikovsky and Toscanini to Gershwin and Billie Holiday – have performed at Carnegie Hall, 154 West 57th Street, at Seventh Avenue (tel: (212) 247 7800; website: www.carnegiehall.org), which boasts an astonishing and eclectic repertoire at moderate prices. Other leading venues that draw the world’s top performers include Kaufman Concert Hall, in the 92nd Street Y, at 1395 Lexington Avenue (tel: (212) 996 1100), and Lehman Center for the Performing Arts, 250 Bedford Park Boulevard West, Bronx (tel: (718) 960 8232; website: www.lehman.cuny.edu/lehmancenter).

Metropolitan Opera House

Known as the Met, the Metropolitan Opera House, in the LincolnCenter (tel: (212) 362 6000; website: www.lincolncenter.org), is New York’s premiere opera venue and home to the Metropolitan Opera (website: www.metopera.org), from September to late April. The New York State Theater, also in LincolnCenter (tel: (212) 870 5570; website: www.lincolncenter.org), is where the New York City Opera (tel: (212) 870 5630; website: www.nycopera.com) perform. Its wide and adventurous program varies wildly in quality – sometimes startlingly innovative, occasionally mediocre – but seats go for less than half the Met’s prices. Other venues include the JulliardSchool, 155 West 65th Street, at Broadway (tel: (212) 799 5000; website: www.juilliard.edu), where talented students perform with a famous conductor, usually for low prices.

Theatre: Theatre venues in the city are referred to as Broadway, Off-Broadway or Off-Off-Broadway – groupings that represent a descending order of ticket price, production polish, elegance and comfort and an ascending order of innovation, experimentation, and theatre for the sake of art rather than cash. Off-Broadway is still the place for theatre punters to see the works of the world’s most innovative playwrights – social and political drama, satire, ethnic plays and repertory … in short, anything that Broadway would not consider a guaranteed money spinner. Lower operating costs also mean that Off-Broadway often serves as a forum to try out what sometimes ends up as a big Broadway production. Off-Off-Broadway is New York’s fringe. Unlike Off-Broadway, Off-Off doesn’t have to use professional actors and shows range from shoestring productions of the classics to outrageous and experimental performance art.

The National Actors Theatre, 1560 Broadway, Suite 409 (tel: (212) 719 5331; website: www.nationalactorstheatre.org), presents the classics on Broadway, while Manhattan Theatre Club, 311 West 43rd Street, Eighth Floor (tel: (212) 581 1212; website: www.mtc-nyc.org), produces some of the finest new plays in American theatre. Other theatre groups include Walt Disney Theatrical Productions, 1450 Broadway, Suite 300 (tel: (212) 827 5412; website: www.disney.go.com/disneyonbroadway), which brings the magic of Disney to life on the Broadway stage. For a more ethnic flavour, Harlem’s Apollo Theatre, 253 West 125th Street (tel: (212) 531 5300; website: www.showtimeinharlem.com), has celebrated the legacy and culture of African-American music and entertainment since 1934.

Dance: New York has five major ballet companies as well as dozens of contemporary troupes and the official dance season runs from September to January and April to June. Metropolitan Opera House, in the LincolnCenter (tel: (212) 362 6000; website: www.lincolncenter.org), is the home of the renowned American Ballet Theater (tel: (212) 477 3030; website: www.abt.org), which performs the classics from early May into July. New York State Theater, also in the LincolnCenter (tel: (212) 870 5570; website: www.lincolncenter.org), is home to the revered New York City Ballet (website: www.nycballet.com), which performs more contemporary ballet for a nine-week season each spring.

Brooklyn Academy of Music

Universally known as BAM, Brooklyn Academy of Music, 30 Lafayette Street, between Flatbush Avenue and Fulton Street, Brooklyn (tel: (718) 636 4100; website: www.bam.org), is America’s oldest performing arts academy and one of the busiest and most daring producers in New York. During autumn, BAM’s Next Wave Festival showcases the hottest international attractions in avant-garde dance and music. Winter brings visiting artists, while, each spring, BAM hosts the annual DanceAfrica Festival, America’s largest showcase for African and African-American dance and culture.

Film: A movie centre second only to Tinseltown itself, New York has hundreds of modern cinema complexes and arthouse cinemas. Cinemas worth visiting include Sony Lincoln Square, Broadway at 68th Street (tel: (212) 336 5000 (recorded information) or (212) 336 5020), which is more a theme park than a multiplex, and The Ziegfeld, 141 West 54th Street, between Sixth Avenue and Seventh Avenue (tel: (908) 918 2000; website: www.clearviewcinemas.com), which often holds glitzy premieres and is the grandest picture palace in town – once home to the Ziegfeld Follies. Arthouse movies are screened at Angelika Film Centre, 18 West Houston Street (tel: (212) 995 2000 or 2570), Lincoln Plaza Cinemas, 30 Lincoln Plaza (tel: (212) 757 2280), and Quad Cinema, 34 West Street, between Fifth Avenue and Sixth Avenue (tel: (212) 255 8800). General information, show times and advanced tickets are available from Moviefone (tel: (212) 777 FILM or 777 3456).

New York has been portrayed through celluloid in a number of ways, ranging from the ridiculous yet enduring images of King Kong, swinging from the EmpireStateBuilding, in the 1933 classic starring Fay Wray, to the psychological horrors of Martin Scorsese’s Taxi Driver (1976). In the latter, Robert De Niro plays the part of a mentally isolated New York cabbie and Vietnam vet, driven to violence by the decadence of the city. It is New York decadence of a slightly different nature that Alan Rudolph explores in Mrs Parker and the Vicious Circle (1994), which looks at New York literary life and society during the 1920s. The life and times of one of New York’s most famous daughters, the acid and hilarious writer and wit, Dorothy Parker, is brought to life amid a lavish New York setting.

Manhattan Antiques and Collectibles Triple Pier Expo

Cultural events:New York’s biggest antiques event, Manhattan Antiques and Collectibles Triple Pier Expo, is held at three piers on the Hudson River, in February. The annual harbinger of spring, the New York Flower Show, is held on piers 90 and 93, 51st Street and 12th Avenue, in March. Meanwhile, Art Expo New York, the world’s largest show of popular art, features a wide range of works from paintings and sculpture to posters and decorative arts, at the Javits Convention Centre, also in March. Ninth Avenue International Food Festival is a gastronomic feast of a street fair in May, with live bands and hundreds of food stalls selling a wide assortment of ethnic and junk food. Summerstage, a festival of free or low-cost concerts in Central Park, features world music, pop, folk and jazz artists throughout the summer.

Literary Notes

The vibrant city of New York has spawned some of America’s most celebrated writers and provided the backdrop and inspiration for countless best-selling novels and hit movies. Washington Square, at Fifth Avenue and Waverley Place, was home to the 19th-century aristocracy and provided the inspiration for the classic study of the American upper classes, Washington Square (1881), by New Yorker Henry James. Bohemian Greenwich Village has long been the favoured haunt of America’s literati. The ChelseaHotel, on West 23rd Street, is something of a writers’ emporium. Here Arthur Miller penned After the Fall (1964) and William Burroughs worked on Naked Lunch (1959). New Yorker Arthur Miller is celebrated as America’s greatest living playwright, whose numerous works have delighted Broadway and international audiences for decades. His knowledge of the Brooklyn waterfront helped to form his characters in his play A View From the Bridge (1955) and powerful reflections upon his home town are revealed in The Price (1968).

New York’s most famous contemporary novelist is Paul Auster, who won international acclaim for The New York Trilogy (1987), a book comprising three novellas – City of Glass, Ghosts and The Locked Room – all set in New York. Edwin G. Burrows and Mike Wallace’s Gotham (2001) is one of the most illuminating and readable histories of New York. One of the most striking works from the flurry of post-11 September 2001 publications is September 11: A Testimony (2001), assembled by press agency Reuters, with some of the most dramatic WorldTradeCenter photographic images.

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